Efficient Name Management for Named Data Networking in Datacenter Networks

1. A method implemented in a computer system for handling data objects in a datacenter network, wherein the datacenter network has associated therewith a first namespace of variable name length and a second namespace of fixed name length, the method comprising: identifying, by the computer system, a set of all names that exist in the datacenter network in the first namespace; defining a mapping from the first namespace to the second namespace; receiving, by the computer system, a request including a name of a data object; and translating, by the computer system, the name in the request, wherein the name in the request is translated from a name in the first namespace to a name in the second namespace based at least in part upon the defined mapping; wherein the step of defining comprises: generating, by the computer system, a longest prefix tree characterizing a set of names in the first namespace; collapsing, by the computer system, the branches of the longest prefix tree to reduce a number of non-branching paths; and dividing, by the computer system, the second namespace into a plurality of segments, wherein the second namespace is divided into the plurality of segments based at least in part on the structure of the collapsed longest prefix tree; and wherein the method further comprises determining, by the computer system, a length for each of the segments, wherein the length of each of the segments is determined at least in part on the basis of predicted growth of names in the first namespace.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising routing of requests for data objects in the datacenter network using the translated name in the second namespace.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the length of each of the segments is further determined based at least in part on the structure of the collapsed longest prefix tree.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the name in the request in the first namespace of variable length is in the form of at least one of: (a) a URI structure; and (b) a hierarchical structure.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the set of names currently existing in the datacenter further comprises a set of names which is forecast to exist in the data center sometime in the future.

6. A method implemented in a computer system for mapping an arbitrarily long name in a first namespace to a fixed size name in a second namespace, the method comprising: generating, by the computer system, a longest prefix tree characterizing a set of names in the first namespace; collapsing, by the computer system, the branches of the longest prefix tree to reduce a number of non-branching paths; dividing, by the computer system, the second namespace into a plurality of segments, wherein the second namespace is divided into the plurality of segments based at least in part on the structure of the collapsed longest prefix tree; and determining, by the computer system, a length of each of the segments, wherein the length of each of the segments is determined based at least in part on the structure of the collapsed longest prefix tree; wherein the length of each of the segments into which the second namespace is divided is based at least in part upon a predicted growth in the names in the first namespace.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the collapsing the branches of the longest prefix tree to reduce a number of non-branching paths comprises collapsing the branches of the longest prefix tree to minimize the number of non-branching paths.

8. The method of claim 6 , wherein the number of segments into which the second namespace is divided is based at least in part upon the length of a longest path in the collapsed longest prefix tree.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the number of segments into which the second namespace is divided is equal to the length of the longest path in the collapsed longest prefix tree.

10. The method of claim 6 , wherein the length of each of the segments into which the second namespace is divided is based at least in part upon a number of bits that can accommodate the branches that emanate out of a respective node of the collapsed longest prefix tree.